Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Transcribed from the road, Wednesday July 13th
Somewhere in that stretch of Utah along I-70 where there is NOTHING- no gas, no services, just this.
Iowa
Up all night paying fetch in the hotel wearing her thundershirt (we were supposed to get severe weather but didn't)
Vail Bike path- obsessed with the stream.
We’re a little bit belated in updating our blog. Between 4th of July and Carmageddon prep has kept me pretty busy with Fetch! Pet Care. In addition to that, I have also been getting ready for a cross country road trip from Los Angeles to my parents’ home in Rochester, NY. I apologize for the delay. I actually have 2 or 3 blog installments pending but just haven’t wrapped them up and finalized for posting. However I do want to give you our current installment since we are traveling cross country. It’s just Roo and me; Will and Duval stayed home in LA. So, Roo is going many places this week.
As I record this for transcription on Wed July 13th, I have just passed through Omaha, NB and Council Bluffs , Iowa, so we’re driving across the state of Iowa right now and we’re on our 3rd day of the drive. Going backwards in time- we stopped in Omaha- I had heard there was a good dog park in Omaha, and sure enough I mapped it on our way across the state of NB and saw it was just a few miles off of our route (I-80). It was quite a nice dog park, a big dog park, nothing fancy but very spacious and Roo was DESPERATELY in need of some retrieving time. She hasn’t been to the dog park since Sunday evening, (it is now Wednesday) and last night she kept me up pretty late in our hotel room playing with the ball: losing it under the bed countless times, crying when it was lost under the bed, pacing and crying if I took the ball away and even barked at me once at around midnight. Somehow I finally convinced her to get on the bed and pass out so I could get some rest. Hopefully tonight will be better now that she has had an opportunity to wear herself out with lots of long retrieves and no distractions. She looked pretty tired.
The dog park also came, as any good dog park will, complete with a lovely mud pit in the middle. When we arrived there was a German Shepherd running around who had clearly enjoyed himself in that mud pit- splashed me with mud from his tail and got mud all over Roo just from trying to get on top of her. Unfortunately Roo later discovered the mud pit as well. She hates water but loves mud pits, don’t know why. Despite my yelling “no mud,” which is a command she knows, she just walked herself right in and as soon as she walked in she sunk about 6 inches. It was a pretty deep mud and mushy mud pit, and I had t step in to pull her out and ended up with one foot covered in mud. Thankfully it was just that one dip in the mud bit, and she ran off most of the mud and is reasonably clean at this point- not that it really matters because the car is filthy anyway.
Before Omaha, we spent the night in North Platte, Nebraska. I found a really nice little trail. We were staying at the Motel 6 (always pet friendly and cheap) which was right along the river, and I discovered a nice little paved walkway which followed the river. We went through a beautiful park, and it looked like there was a dog park inside of the park, but we were on the wrong side to get in the park and it was a little too late at night to figure out how to get in and spend any time at the park. But we enjoyed a long 45-60 minute walk along the path.
During the day yesterday (July 12th) we were mostly within Colorado. About halfway through our day I noticed a nice little bike path running along I-70 in the mountains around Vail, and decided it would be great for us to access that and take our long midday break. It was cool and overcast so great for a little hike at several thousand feet. Not sure if we were supposed to be pedestrians on the bike path, but no one complained and it didn’t really feel like we were in the way. Roo really enjoyed the raging stream flowing along the path, especially when she saw the chipmunk scurry across. It was a beautiful path and we could still see snow on the mountains even in the middle of July!
We had spent the previous night in green River Utah (also at Motel 6). Not many places to walk in Green River- we walked up and down the main street just before dark. Unfortunately someone shot off a gun at one point and she was so upset and I was worried she would either hurt herself or snap her leash so I carried her the last 50 or so yard to the hotel. I then put her thundershirt on and she chilled out for the evening.
Earlier on Day One we had also stopped for a long walk in St. George, Utah. We didn’t have time to search for the dog park that is supposedly there, but we enjoyed our long walk anyway.
We had made a quick stop in Nevada earlier, so Roo has touched the ground in quite a few states already:
Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska.
At some point this afternoon she will step foot on Iowa soil and then we’ll be spending the night in IL.
So that’s it so far this week for all the places Roo will go. Tomorrow we’ll hit Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and finally NY, which is our final destination and we’ll be there for a few weeks….and may even head up to Massachusetts and Maine! She is one well traveled little pup!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
June 1st: Urban Pet Supply, Orange Bone, Tailwaggers and a walk along Melrose
WE had an ambitious 5 stops on our agenda, but we only made it to 3 due parking issues and a walk that got a little bit extended. We'll catch those other 2 spots on another outing.
First stop: Urban Pet Supply. Right across the street from Pan Pacific Park, Urban Pet is a spacious store filled with all sorts of goodies for pet and their owners. Don't be surprised if you are "greeted" by Mr. Moon at the door. Mr. Moon is the black dog in their logo, with one ear up and one ear down (he is also in the photo with Zack, the owne, if you click on the link in his name). He laid about 5 feet from the door, staring out as if daring us to enter. Actually is a very nice old dog, but I think his presence reminded Roo of my dearly departed Alex, and so it took a few minutes for her to get the courage to walk by him.
The lovely young women working were happy to give Roo treats and very helpful. Roo was not on her absolute best behavior however, she barked at some labs who were coming out of a training session, and then again at a sweet bulldog entering the store. However, we caught up with that bulldog as we were walking to our next destination. Her name was Vee and Roo greeted her quite nicely on the sidewalk. We than ran into another pup a little further down the street, who also received a very calm sniff from Roo. All in all she was actually quite calm about the dogs we passed on the street today.
Our plan was to walk up to Orange Bone on Melrose. I had left my planner with the address scribbled down in the car, so I went from memory...which of course was wrong. We should have just made a left around the corner and there was Orange Bone. But we went for a nice little stroll down Melrose. Which, actually was a good thing for you. She strolled confidently along, navigating lots of people and bikes and waiters bringing food out to people seated at tables on the sidewalk.
Eventually I pulled out the handy iPhone and realized my mistake, and back we went to Orange Bone. Let me tell you what I love about Orange Bone- they sell puppies.... from shelters!!!! That's right, so all those people out there claiming it's so hard to get a puppy if you aren't buying from a breeder or a puppy mill pet shop, take a stroll by the Orange Bone. That had some gorgeous, playful Rottie mix pups in the window who were dying to play with Miss Roo, and lots of small breeds available inside the store. (also, for the record Roo came from the shelter as a 4 month old puppy- she wasn't the prettiest as she had mange, but it was easily treated and she is gorgeous and happy now!). Anyway, Alex at Orange Bone was super nice and I enjoyed chatting with him until he had to get back to work because a herd of puppy shoppers entered the door.
Our final stop of the day - Tailwaggers NEW location on Fairfax. Great staff at Tailwaggers- when Roo poked her nose into the back she wasn't shood away but welcomed and then asked if she wanted a treat (to which she replied, yes, of course!). I have to work on "shake" with Roo though, because she does it for me but when others ask her for it she seems to think they want her to lay down.
By this time, we were both quite thirsty, and wishing we had time to stop in for a drink at The Fat Dog which was right next to Tailwaggers. But we had to get home and attend to Roo's big brother Duval, so we skipped the pint at The Fat Dog- next time!SD6E5M2T5JMP